


We Are Strong (What It Takes To Be A Man)

by supergreak



Series: With A Little Help From My Friends [1]
Category: Glee
Genre: Episode Tag, Friendship, Gen, Hot Chocolate
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-09-29
Updated: 2011-09-29
Packaged: 2017-10-24 04:00:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/258752
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/supergreak/pseuds/supergreak
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Post- I Am Unicorn. There are some things that friends are awesome for- advice and encouragement.</p>
            </blockquote>





	We Are Strong (What It Takes To Be A Man)

**Author's Note:**

> Canon through 3.02. Should be no spoilers past that, unless I'm psychic. Please point out any glaring errors.

Kurt was towelling off his hair, half-dressed, when the doorbell rang the night after his little eavesdropping escapade.  Grabbing his (silk) pajama top off the bed, he made his way to the door.  Burt and Carole had called a date night and Finn was over at Rachel’s, so he couldn’t just ignore it.  

He opened to door to Puck, looking defeated.  “What do you want, Puckerman?  Finn’s not here.”  He said tiredly, lacking the mental fortitude to even bitch out his hair or those truly atrocious jeans.  

Puck sighed.  “Yeah, I know.  I wanted to talk to you.”

Kurt backed up to let him in, releasing the door in favor of buttoning up his top.  “What can I help you with?”

The taller boy plopped on the couch as Kurt perched in a chair.  “It’s Beth.  I want to see her, to be a part of her life, but Shelby says I’ve got to clean up my act.  You’re the best goody two-shoes in the school and you get good grades, so I figured you could help me out here.”

Kurt opened his mouth, but no words came out.  He tried again.  “So...you want, like, a life coach?  A tutor?”

Puck laughed.  “Is that what it’s called?  Yeah, a life coach.  Tell me what to do, oh Jedi Master.”

Kurt got up to grab a notepad.  “Okay, let’s start with the lawbreaking.”  He said, handing the paper and pen to Puck.  “No booze, no pot, no underage girls.  No married women, though that’s more self-preservation than legality.  In fact, if you could limit the sexcapades to one girl this semester, it would do _wonders_ for your reputation.  Well, in the grown-up sense.  And the high school reputation shouldn’t suffer too much, because they’ll all presume you’re still running the pool boy thing.”  He took a breath.  “Keep out of fights.  You want to show Shelby- who isn’t stupid- a real change, not a façade of reform, as I suspect Quinn will go for.  She got the same ultimatum?”

Puck nodded.  

“Well, she’s always been good at pretending.  But if you really care about Beth, you have to be less of an asshole.  Not just fake it.  So don’t lie about juvy, or what you did sophomore year.  Be upfront about it, and then explain to her why you’re different now.  You don’t slushie me or throw me into dumpsters any more, and you’re actually friends with kids you used to bully or ignore- tell her why.”

“I got locked in a porta-potty for twenty-four hours.  Zizes saved my ass, and I just can’t be that jerk now that I’ve been on the other side of it.   And who am I friends with, that I used to bully?”  Puck asked.  




Kurt crumpled in his chair.  “I thought- well, I thought you considered me a friend, but obviously  I was wr-”

“Hummel, shut up.  You’re _my_ friend, okay?  But I’ve never been one of yours.  You’re only really friends with the girls, and well, Blaine I guess, but you don’t hang out with us if you have a choice and you call me a neanderthal and talk to me like I’m dirt under your Dolce and Banana boots.”  Puck leaned forward, looking into his eyes.  “And yeah, part of that’s my fault, the fault of all the jocks.  But I’ve changed, a lot, and you still treat me like you did sophomore year.”

Kurt looked down at his bare feet.  Ooh, his cuticles needed work.  “I- I never thought of it like that.  I’m sorry.  I’m so used to rejection that it’s easier, sometimes, to-”

“Be the Ice Queen of McKinley?” Puck grinned.  “Yo, it’s cool.  I get it.  You had to survive high school.  But you’re a pretty cool dude, when you’re not trying so hard to impress everyone, and you’re fun to hang out with.  So we should do more of that, if you’re cool.”

He took a deep breath.  “Well, I suppose I could try.”

“Well, this counts as hanging out, doesn’t it?  And we haven’t yelled at each other yet, so it’s going better than the last three times I chilled with Finn.  What’s next on the list of Things Puck Sucks At?”

Kurt gathered up the threads of his composure.  “Academics, of course.  You need to start attending class, and we’ll go over your schedule to see what you need tutoring in, and what you can make up just by trying.  It’s only the second week, so you should be good.”

An hour later, they had a tentative tutoring/homework schedule worked out, recruiting Santana(read: bribing with brownies) to tutor him in Spanish.  Kurt had revised Puck’s English essay(honestly, Noah, parenthetical citations are _not that hard_ ) and now they were drinking hot chocolate at the kitchen table while Puck packed up his backpack.  “So tell me, Hummel, why are _you_ so stressed today?  When you opened the door, you looked like someone kicked your dog, or something.”

Kurt hid behind his mug, not making eye contact.  “I eavesdropped on the audition meeting.  Apparently, I’m just not manly enough to be Tony in West Side Story.  Oh, the voice, oh, the talent.  But if you can’t pass for straight, it’s all for naught.”

“What?!”  Puck exclaimed.  “You don’t have to be straight to be a manly dude.  That’s stupid.  And what are they judging manliness by, anyway?  You’ve got bigger balls than any dude at this school, than any person except maybe Santana.  You’ve stood up for yourself and other people, and you never compromise, even when Finn or I would wimp out.  So, like, you’re brave, and you’re noble and shit- Santana says you had prime blackmail material on Karofsky and didn’t use it.  And, like, you’re better at fixing cars than Finn, which is totally a para- persp- judging thing on manliness.  Artie doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”

Kurt laughed.  “Wow.  You make me sound like a modern-day knight.  But with cars instead of horses.  I can do swords, too.”

“That’s freaking awesome, you’ll have to show me sometime.  But seriously, why won’t you get the part?”  

“Because I can’t pass.  Blaine can; he’ll probably get it, but most classic musicals are written for an archetype of a straight man, and that’s a role I can’t possibly play.”  Kurt said, trying not to sound bitter.  He didn’t think he was very successful.

“Well, damn.  Rachel chose her big musical, but maybe you should do a thing, find a musical or write one for yourself, that says men can dig other men and still, like, save the day and be masculine and shit.  I could write the music?  You’ve got a freaking awesome voice and I bet you’d sell more tickets than her.”  He looked like he was serious.  Earnest.  It was a strange look on Puckerman’s face.  What was even was it was earnest anger, on _Kurt’s_ behalf.  “That’s so unfair, that she chose a musical that doesn’t have a part for you, but is perfect for her.”

“Thank you, but a musical is a bit too much work for one, or even two of us.  Especially without any staff endorsements.  But maybe, we could do it in a song?  For glee?”  He tried not to get his hopes up- Noah Puckerman would never sing a duet with him. He totally didn’t expect the-

“Yeah, sure.  I actually have something that could work, my sister was listening to this guy, and he sings all high like you do.  Maybe do, like, pushups or something in the chorus, work in sword fighting or something for choreography.  Show them all your studliness, even though you like fashion and can sing higher than Quinn.”

****

They ended up nixing the sword fighting, on account of  getting the “actual weapons on school grounds are _not_ acceptable, Mr. Hummel” lecture from Figgins.  But they brought out some practice batons and got Mike to choreograph the dance, rounding out their group to make three.  Adding in some harmonies for Puck to sing(and Mike to...not sing) was easy, and Brad agreed to both accompaniment and secret-keeping.  The day they posted the cast list, Kurt accepted it with grace and told everyone to go to the auditorium, where they used the most of the dramatic lighting as they started off at the back doors, in New Directions tradition with the acapella intro.

[   
_We are young, we are strong,_   
](http://youtu.be/Qm9d5wAXW5c)

[   
_We're not looking for where we belong_   
](http://youtu.be/Qm9d5wAXW5c)

[   
_We're not cool, We are free_   
](http://youtu.be/Qm9d5wAXW5c)

[   
_And we're running with blood on our knees_   
](http://youtu.be/Qm9d5wAXW5c)

 

As Brad came in with the piano part, Puck, Mike, and Kurt stalked, danced, and triple-back-flipped down the aisles, respectively.  Kurt would’ve loved to see Mr. Schuester’s face at that.  

Kurt sang lead the entire time, and had a blast, through the mock-fight and the handstands and Mike’s numerous dance breaks.  Standing between Mike and Puck, fists in the air as they finished the song, he looked out at the glee club victoriously.   

Puck observed, too.  After all, they did this to make a point.  Well, mostly to make Kurt feel better, but they had a point to make.  Finn looked like he wanted to sing along, Rachel looked pissed at being outshone on her Day of Drama, Brittany was snuggled up next to Tina, who was smiling at Mike.  Schuester looked confused, and Coach Beiste was grinning. Blaine...well, Blaine was shifting in his seat like his pants were getting too tight or something.  Puck looked from Kurt to Blaine and back to Kurt and smirked.   _Get some,_ Kurt!




**Author's Note:**

> Song here:http://youtu.be/Qm9d5wAXW5c


End file.
